Photosensitive elements are known as reproduction means in many areas of photographic reproduction. One such means is the differences in adhesive properties between the imagewise exposed and unexposed image areas.
Reproduction processes are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,060,024, 3,582,327 and 3,649,268 wherein photopolymerizable elements comprising a base support bearing a photopolymerizable layer which comprises at least one addition polymerizable monomeric compound and a photopolymerization initiator are exposed imagewise through an original forming nontacky image areas in the exposed image areas. The image is made visible (developed) by dusting with a suitable toner which adheres only to the unexposed tacky areas. Excess toner is then removed from the exposed, nontacky image areas.
By the aforementioned process, positive colored images of the original are obtained which are equivalent of press proofs. While positive images are achieved by the above process, it has not been possible to prepare by a simple method using a single layer element negative images with respect to the original. Such a need for reproduction of negative images exists in many applications, e.g., direct color separation technology.
An object of this invention is to provide an element having a single photosensitive layer for preparing negative tonable images.